Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Corruptor of Worlds
by Ryu the Weredragon
Summary: Ash Ketchum wakes up to find himself an anthromorphic Machop in a world where Pokemon are morphs and monsters roam. He, Misty, Max and native Skip must discover why they're in this world, locate the rest of their friends, and deal with the problem... Easy, right?


Welcome to the World of Pokémon!

Well, one world anyway. There are many worlds out there, all different. Worlds where Pokémon are trained by humans. Worlds were humans are trained by Pokémon. Worlds where only humans exist. Worlds where only Pokémon exist. Even worlds where all Pokémon are toys!...yeah, the multiverse is a strange and scary place.

But, not like the world of Pokémon you've seen before. In the world where our tale begins, there are no humans, only Pokémon, and unlike most of their counterparts in other worlds, they are for the most part anthromorphic, partially resembling humans...albeit with more monstrous features with and various powers. They live in cities and towns, using technology and magic and living - for the most part - in harmony with nature and each other.

Much like the humans in the Pokémon worlds we're familiar with, for the most part, they are good people always willing to help out a neighbor, or even a complete stranger, in need. Many groups of these Pokémon form teams to save others from disasters, explore and hunt for treasure, or even merely to have adventures.

However, in every paradise, there are those willing to disturb it's sanctity for their own means...

- - -

Several shooting stars shot through the night sky, leaving beautiful trails in their wake and attracting the attention and awe of people on the ground below. Throughout recorded history, Pokémonkind had considered shooting stars to be omens of things to come, of great disasters and changes in the world.

Most of the time they were completely wrong, unless they were a Psychic or seer who actually knew what they were talking about. Not this time, though. This time... those who suspected it to be a portent were absolutely right... While this normally wouldn't be worthy of merit, there was a meaning behind this small meteor shower.

- - -

The next day after the shooting stars, a young Mudkip - by which of course I mean an anthromorphic Mudkip, standing on his hind legs with more defined humanoid features and musculature, rather than the average tiny ground-waddling Mudkip you or I might be familiar with - was wandering about in one of the forests near his hometown, searching for the impact point of one of the stellar objects that had crossed the skies the previous night.

"It's got to be around here somewhere. The Seer has never been wrong before," the boy, named Skipper Rivers, had muttered to himself. He wasn't sure why The Seer had wanted him to seek out one of the meteorites. How could a large stone help him? But he had known better than to question The Seer. Bad things happened to people who questioned The Seer, or asked why the 'The' part of the Seer's title always had to be capitalized.

"Ughnn...", a voice could be heard a bit away.

"Huh? Is someone there?", Skipper had wondered, starting.

Wandering over cautiously, he found an unconscious Machop. He didn't look like any Machop he was familiar with, though and his clothes looked rather strange - nothing like the local fashion. He was wearing a pair of a light blue jeans, shoes that didn't seem like the tough kind most teams wore, a blue shirt or something that seemed a bit too thick for the weather - and covered up his chest, which Machop usually hated to do, and some kind of headgear that didn't seem all that protective. He had on gloves too, but that was probably the most ordinary-looking part of the Machop's ensamble.

"Hey... Hey, wake up. Are you okay?", Skipper asked, body tense and ready to strike if the Machop sprung at him.

"Ungh... I think so...", the Machop said as he looked up at Skipper. Skipper noticed his face had strange markings near his cheeks that looked like zigzags, and his eyes were a deep brown color, which was different unusual for a Machop. "Wha-!? A giant talking Mudkip?"

"Hey! I'm not giant, I'm just big-boned- wait... What do you think you are?", Skipper said self-conciously, "If anyone's unusual here it's you. What kind of clothes are those? Nothing like any Machop I've ever seen wearing."

The Machop blinked. "What are you talking about? ... I'm a human!"

Skipper's face lit up. He had heard several stories like this, but never really thought they might happen, at least, not to him. "Really? A Human!? I mean, you don't LOOK Human, you're clearly a Machop, but no ordinary Machop would lie about being a human! That means..."

"Wait-wait... back up, a Machop?", the Machop wondered in confusion, before looking at himself. His eyes widened in shock, "!?"

"...Go ahead, scream. That's what most do when they find this out, or so the stories say," Skipper said.

"N-No... I'm more surprised than anything else...", the Machop said honestly, "Why a Machop? How did I...what's..." He shook his head, deciding that could wait until later, though not TOO much later.. "Err.. um... Sorry, do you have a name?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry! I got so excited that I forgot to introduce myself! My name's Skipper Rivers, but call me Skip, all my friends do!" Skipper said.

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and this is-" the Machop trailed off, and stood up and looked around. "...Wait... Pikachu? Pikachu, where are you!?"

Skip tilted his head, "Pikachu? Wait-wait... you mean you REMEMBER everything?" Unless Ash already had a companion, meaning Skip was too late? Oh, he dearly hoped that wasn't the case.

"Umm... Yeah, why wouldn't I? I'm Ash Ketchum, born in the Town of Pallet in Kanto. My mother's name is Delia, and I got my starter Pokémon, Pikachu, from Professor Oak... Why- why wouldn't I remember anything? And where IS Pikachu?" Ash asked desperately.

"I- I'm sorry, but you're the only one I found here," Skip apologized. He found this weird. None of the others he had heard of had ever remembered much of anything but their name and maybe a few cursory details. This human had implied he had remembered EVERYTHING... Maybe there was more to this than he had thought...

"I-I've got to find Pikachu, Skip," Ash said frantically.

Skip frowned, "But... He might not be here. I've- I've never heard of a human bringing a Pokémon here with them from-"

"He's GOT to be here. I can... I can tell," Ash said, vaguely.

"Look, Ash... I'm not doubting you," Skip said, not entirely sure he believed what he was saying, "But trust me when I say I didn't run into anyone else around here. We'll find your friend, I promise. Even if it takes us a while. I dunno about where you live, but folks here are in general good. If someone finds him, they'll keep him out of trouble."

Ash smiled in relief... then frowned, looking over the Mudkip's shoulder, "Uh... Skip... Is it normal for a Hypno to be leading a bunch of children into the forest?", Ash asked.

"...No, why?" Skipper asked.

Ash pointed behind Skip, who turned around only to see a various Pokémon children walk, in a daze, into the forest, led by an evil-looking Hypno. The children included a Pichu, an Elekid, a Magby, a Wynaut, a Munchlax, a Shinx and a princely-looking Lilleo.

"! That- Those are the Sinster Woods! Children aren't allowed to play in there! It's dangerous unless they get some fighting experience, which most parents really don't give their children at that age! And wasn't one of those children Prince Kimba? This is BIG time bad news!" Skip gasped.

"Then we've got to go save them, come on! I dunno who that Hypno is, but he's got a lot of nerve!", Ash said.

Skip smiled brightly. This was JUST the kind of attitude a member of his team would need,. "Yeah! I'm pumped!"

Noticing an old hatchet stuck in a tree stump nearby, the Mudkip struggled a bit but managed to pull it out,. "It's better than nothing, I guess," he said, before turning to Ash,. "It's a forest, chances are good that what we'll face in there will be plants, so..."

"So... If this place is so dangerous, what were you doing out all this way?" Ash asked Skip as they ventured into the forest.

"Uhh- ...Well, see, the city I comes from has a Seer, and I was t told to head in the direction a meteor shower supposedly impacted last night. Supposedly the impact site was around Sinister Woods... Instead of finding an impact crater I found... you," Skip said.

Before Ash could ponder what that meant, a Sudowoodo appeared and swung a punch at him. Out of instinct, Ash bent backwards out of range of the punch before returning with a Karate Chop to the chest. Ash blinked momentarily. _Did I do that?_

Suddenly, a lot of other innocuous-looking trees in the area started to move. Were they surrounded?

"That's... a lot of Sudowoodo. Guess they moved into this place when people tried to clear out some of the trees to make more homes," Skipper said, his back to the Machop.

"Why are they attacking us?", Ash asked, surprised. He knew Wild Pokémon sometimes attacked Trained ones out of jealous, but, this was something different entirely.

"...Some Pokémon despise the rest of us for creating or living in civilizations. Others are criminals who live in places like this to stay out of the reach of the law," Skip said, "...You're probably not going to like this, but there may be a time when you can't avoid killing one to protect yourself."

Ash winced,. "You're right. I DON'T like it... Well, we've got the advantage... right?"

"In typing, yes. They've got us outnumbered! We've got to get to a place where we can get them coming at us in lower numbers!", Skip said, remembering his father drilling this lesson into his head.

Skip fired a Water Gun infront of him, forcing a small aisle in the Sudowoodo there. Signaling Ash, the two bolted forward.

"...You seem really prepared for this...", Ash said, as he quickly sprinted over to a fallen log that spanned a small gorge.

"...Let's just say stuff like this is part of life in my family," the Mudkip replied as he and Ash crossed the log to a solitary plateau. "There, if they want to get to us, they'll have to cross this."

The Soodoowoodo came as fast as they could, forced to come in one at a time thanks to the narrowness of the log. Ash knocked one off with a Karate Chop while Skip smacked another off balance with the blunt end of the hatchet, sending them plummeting into the gorge.

This isn't too say it was easy, though. By the time the Soodoowoodo stopped coming, both mons where covered in purple bruises and panting heavily.

"...On the one hand, that hurt... on the other hand... I really feel like I could fight hundreds more! ...Why is that, anyway?", Ash wondered.

"You're a Fighting-type. Fighting like that is in your blood... me, I could do with a nice swim right about now...", Skip said, breathing heavily. "Right... so... from what I remember, this forest has 13 floors and-"

"Wait... This is a forest, right? How does a _forest_ have thirteen floors? How does _that_ work?", Ash asked in confusion.

Skip paused. "...I have no idea."

After several battles, the duo had finally made it to the end of the 'floor,' however that worked. They had fought Oddish, various members of the Victreebell Line, four Foongus, and a swarm of Beedrill along the way.

"Ugh... I hate Beedrill... I was actually having fun until that swarm...", Ash muttered, eating a Pecha Berry to cure himself.

"Well, you'd better prepare yourself. There's still plenty to go and no sign of the children on this floor. I should warn you, there are rumors that strange... monsters lurk in these dungeons nowadays. Nobody's sure where they came from, but they've started appearing about 25 years ago," Skip explained.

"Are those rumors true?", Ash wondered.

Skip shrugged. "I'm not sure. But we should be careful anyway."

The duo made their way down to the next level of the forest. It was much darker, and the place looked much less... friendly on this level. Kricketune chirped and Ash could swear they he saw shadows moving in the distance.

There was a low growl as a pair of blood- red eyes appeared in the dark.

Ash instinctively turned toward the red eyes. - How he knew which direction to look in Skip wasn't sure, but now was not the time to ponder it.

"...What-?"

Stalking out of the dark was a green scaly creature that was decidedly not a Pokémon. It stood larger than a human but hunched over, with large clawed hands and a mouth full of large curved fangs. Its tongue was round with a hole in it almost like a straw.

"Th- That's decidedly unsettling," Skip said as he backed up. Ash was standing, ready to fight the beast.

The creature jumped to pounce on Ash, only for the former human to knock it away with a Karate Chop. He received a small gash on his arm for it, though, as the beast's claws simply grazed his skin.

"Wh- That thing barely even touched me!", Ash cried.

The creature turned, going for Skip.

"Gaah!", Skip fumbled with the rusty hatchet for a moment, not really prepared.

Ash growled and lunged at the monster again as it charged towards Skip. He managed to alter the monster's momentum forcing it off course, slamming it head-first into the head blade of Skip's hatchet. Skip let go of the hatchet's shaft in surprise, and the beast fell to the ground, blood oozing from the blade imbedded in its skull. It twitched for a few moments before emiting a slow, chilling rattle and lying still.

Ash stared blankly at the bleeding corpse in horror for a moment. "I- I just killed it..."

"Ash?" Skip asked uneasily.

"...I just killed someone, Skip...", Ash repeated, his eyes glazed over.

"ASH! You saved my life," Skip asserted

"But at the cost of someone else's," Ash said, horrified.

"Nobody even knows where these things come from, right?" Ash asked.

"...Yeah.." Skip said slowly.

"So there's no telling if they were once people too, is there?" Ash asked desperately.

"Ash..." Skip said uneasily.

"Skip, tell me the truth!" Ash demanded.

Skip sighed and was about to say something when a scream rang out through the forest. Ash's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet and ran towards the voice.

"H-Hey! Ash! Wait!", Skip cried out.

Ash couldn't hear him, hearing the voice woke something within him and he ran tirelessly to its point of origin, punching and kicking any Pokémon or Monster that got in his way, leaving them out cold not caring what state that left them in.

Ash screeched to a halt when he saw a girl he immediately recognized as his good friend and totally NOT love interest Misty getting tormented by some colossal bug that wasn't a Pokémon and a bunch of Beedrill morphs swarming around it... Well, He wasn't sure how he knew it was Misty, give that she was a pretty Torchic girl around his own age like you might have expected, but maybe her clothes gave it away, or maybe it was something...more. The bug in question had the body of a colossal millipede, its million legs squirming around. As Ash watched in disgust, it's mouth opened only to reveal the face of a human woman inside.

Ash recoiled for a moment but steeled himself. "Hey ugly! Why not pick on someone who's _NOT_ scared of bugs!?"

The creature turned to Ash, running towards him quickly. He attempted to force it back with Karate Chop, but his arm rebounded off the thick chitin on it's body.

The creature grabbed Ash with its legs. Ash panicked as he tried to push the creature away. There was a momentary blue glow followed by an explosion, pushing them both away.

Ash blinked in surprise... _Aura? Did I just use Aura offensively?_

One of the creature's legs wriggled under Ash's back while across the room, the creature screamed in pain at the loss of one of its legs. Just then, the creature managed to cause a swarm of Beedrill to appear and sent them at both Ash and the girl he was sure was Misty.

Mud began flying everywhere, raining down from the ceiling in big globs and catching the Beedrill's wings as Skipper entered with Mud Sport.

"Ash! You DITCHED me back there! "What if there was another-", Skip started screaming as he ran onto the scene, only to stop when he saw the Torchic. "Oh, hello."

"Uh... Sorry Skip... I heard Misty scream and I..." Ash stammered.

"Too many bugs!", Misty screamed.

"...Wait, a Fire-Type Entomophobe?". Skip wondered, finding this idea very odd.

"A what?", Ash asked.

"Someone who's afraid of bugs," Skip said

"Oh, yes, she is. Very." Ash said.

"So do we run away or do we stay and fight, Ash?", Skip asked.

"Skip, we've got to take care of this thing," Ash said, "I'm not sure how much I can do to it since it seems to deflect most of my physical blows, but if I get another lucky hit in like that one again..."

Skip nodded, "..Alright... Speaking of which, what WAS that? I heard an explosion."

"...I'll tell you later," Ash said evasively, not sure how the Mudkip would react to an Aura- wielding Machop. Or how to explain it when he wasn't sure how he did it himself.

Ash and Skip charged at the monster, which had recovered. The monster screamed and charged at them.

Ash rushed at the monster and tried to perform Low Kick to knock the monster off balance, hoping to manage to at least make it stumble enough for Skip to blast it with a water attack. The kick seemed ineffective, however, as it barreled into Skip sending the Mudkip flying. "Arghh!"

"Skip!", Ash shouted.

Skip was slammed into a tree, knocked silly, but still alive, for the time being. The monster was now after Ash, who had no idea how to defeat the thing, let alone damage it.

"A-Ash!", Misty cried. She couldn't let Ash get killed by the monstrous bug! But what could she do?

From somewhere deep inside Misty, a heat built up until it forced it's way out of her beak in the form of many separate small fireballs, her Ember hitting the creature full on. Screaming in pain, it reared back before taking off into the woods.

"M-Misty, you just...", Ash stammered.

Misty shuddered. "I- I couldn't let it hurt you Ash... Wh- What's going on here, anyway? Last thing I remember was pulling Psyduck out of the pool after he walked into it again. And now..."

After a moment, Skip finally came to his senses,. "Ughh... That... was unpleasant... Hey Ash, do you know this girl? Is... She your girlfriend or something?"

Both Ash and Misty blushed beet red, "N-No way! We're just old friends, that's all," Ash insisted.

Skip raised an eyebrow skeptically, "Just 'old friends'? Ash, you ditched me in a monster filled dungeon when you heard her screaming! AND knocked out a few dozen of them on the way here! Just because the voice you heard MIGHT be someone you know, _really_?"

"We _said_ we're not together!" Misty shouted, fire seemingly erupting behind her as her mall came down on Skip's head.

"Owww... Alright, alright, I get it..." the Mudkip moaned. "But this is strange... I've- never heard of more than one human being getting brought here at once...", Skip noted. "Then again, that MIGHT explain the meteor shower..."

"A... Meteor shower? How many meteors were there?", Ash wondered, noting Skip's mention of humans being sent to this world before as something to ask later.

"...Dozens, why?" Skip asked.

"Does this mean DOZENS of our friends are here, lost?", Misty asked in alarm.

"I- I guess it's possible...", Skip said, "We'll have to ask The Seer when we get back to town..."

"Misty, there's bound to be more bugs and bug monsters in here. You want me to escort you back to the top and get you out of here?" Ash asked.

Misty shook her head frantically "Don't you dare think you can do something dangerous like this without me, Ash Ketchum! I- I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you didn't come back..."

Skip muttered, "Yeah, definitely in denial," under his breath.

Luckily, the group ran into more Grass type enemies as they proceeded, which Misty was much better against, than Bug types on the rest of the floor. At the end of the floor, Misty decided to speak with Skip about a few things.

"Okay, now that there's some breathing room, I've got a few things to ask about," Misty asked.

"Huh? What are-?", Skip started.

"Do you have any idea where our friends could be?", Ash asked, "If it's about this shooting star stuff..."

"How do we even know that all of them were your friends? They could just be other people. But to answer the question, I don't exactly know, however... The Seer should be able to help us figure out where they are."

"Why are we... Pokémon? I mean you know Ash and I were both humans." the Torchic questioned.

"Oh, that's an easy question," the Mudkip said, "We know of humans through stories - but beyond that, Humans simply don't exist here. So when a human arrives, they're turned into a form that would fit in here. You saw for yourself why that was a good idea, Misty."

"Speaking of that, Do you have any idea of how we got here?", the Machop asked, "You said something about humans coming here before?"

"I don't really know much more than you do. All I know is that at times of great trouble, Humans are said to be brought to our world," Skip explained with a shrug, "It's happened three times in the past but- I can't quite remember what they were. They were all well before my time. And I was never good at history class."

"Okay, with all that in mind, there's just one more thing I don't understand," The Chick Pokémon asked, "Back on our world, I train mostly Water-types. So why did I become a Fire-Type Pokémon?"

The Mud Fish Pokémon thought for a moment, "I... _seem_ to remember reading something about how the forms of those chosen to come are often dependent on personality traits and genders... Maybe that has something to do with it?"

Misty frowned, "...I'm not sure if I should be angry about that or not."

"N-No, I just meant personality traits like, say, a silly person or a courageous person or a shy person, that kind of thing. Nothing too explicit," Skip said, trying to avoid another hammer blow,. "The Library should have more information on the subject, and barring that, we could always ask a Legendary if we run into one."

"You have those here too?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't we?", Skip asked in puzzlement.

Ash and Misty exchanged glances. "Well, suddenly a reason for me being here comes to mind..." the Machop murmured darkly.

"Huh?" Skip asked in confusion.

"Tell you later. Right now, let's focus on saving those kids," Ash said "The rest can wait... for now."

The next "floor" of the dungeon was even creepier than the last. It looked as if all the trees were possessed in some way, and there was a strange indescribable atmosphere of dread. The fact that there didn't seem to be any monsters or even Pokémon on this floor made the mood even creepier than if it was filled with enemies like the last two. The three Pokémon remained on edge, trying to stay alert for anything that might leap out at them from nowhere.

There was a loud unearthly groan. The three immediately jumped and looked for the noise. What kind of monster was heading for them this time?

What they saw was gut-wrenching. The creature itself was massive, almost larger than any of the tree's, and made up of bones, more than just a normaly body many more bones formed this giant than could have possible come from any single Pokémon.

"Is... Is that thing even ALIVE?", Misty shouted in horror.

The creature bellowed, swinging a giant bone towards them. While Misty and Skip were able to dodge, Ash had no time to run, but somehow managed to grab the bone with his bare hands. The creature bellowed, pushing harder.

Ash strained against the beast. "Guys, I don't know how long I can hold this for!"

Misty and Skip took that opportunity to fire Ember and Water Gun at the bone monstrosity.

A femur got knocked off its body and it seemed to move aside, roaring it charged at Misty.

Ash took notice that the femur stayed where it lay. Growling, the Machop ran as fast as he could before hitting the creature's leg with Low Kick, taking some of the bones away at the knee and causing the creature to fall.

The creature's own weight, despite being made of pure bone, was enough to leave some heavy damage on it, but it was not quite ready to give up the ghost. Growling, the bone monstrosity attempted to smash Ash with both arms.

Ash managed to hop aside from this one, before focusing his power into a single powerful blow.

The blow removed one of its arms. With a bellow, it swung the other arm at Misty.

Skip hopped high into the air and leaped at a joint of the other arm with his hatchet, buring the blade deep into the bone. _Rusty or not, this should give this old hatchet enough force to dislodge the other arm... I hope..._ At first his attack seemed to fail, but with a creak the arm slid off. "Alright! I did it!", Skip cheered.

The creature's head turned to him, and the beast started falling towards him. Skip managed to hop aside in time. "Oh... so that's why dad said to save the victory dances for after a dungeon was complete..."

Misty slammed her mallet onto the creature's skull with all of her strength again and again. Cracks began to form on its skull as she attacked it. With a groan, the skull finally shattered, and all motion in the beast with it.

"So... the living dead now? What kind of world IS this?", Misty asked, wiping away some sweat.

"I- I've honestly never heard of a monster like that before," Skip protested.

"Well, you have now, apparently," Ash said wryly.

The group walked a bit further, when Ash stopped in place, "Someone's nearby."

Misty and Skip looked around. "Are you sure, Ash?", Misty asked.

"Yeah, I don't see anyone," Skip protested.

"...I'm sure of it. Someone's nearby," Ash insisted.

"...Is it the guy we're looking for? Or one of the kidnapped children maybe?", Skip asked.

"I- I don't think it's the Hypno. But... It could be one of the children. I'm not sure," Ash said as he opened his eyes.

"Think you can lead the way?" Skip asked.

Misty laughed a bit. "I wouldn't let him,. Ash got us lost HOW many times back in the day?"

"Hey! I wasn't the only one who got us lost!", Ash protested.

"No, but it's still fun to tease you about it," Misty said.

The three followed Ash's hunch. Skip was skeptical that Ash had even sensed someone., and while Misty was sure he had, she was skeptical that Ash could find the way there. They were both surprised when they ended up finding someone.

A Treecko was lying down on the ground. He was a little shorter than Ash, but definitely taller than Skip. He had some torn pants laying around him and a shirt that looked quite too little for him. What he DID have on that fit were a pair of glasses.

"Misty... Is that Max?", Ash asked.

"I- I think it is. But he looks a little older than he should be... But I'm almost positive that's Max." Misty agreed.

"Someone else you two know!?", Skip asked, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, he traveled with me and his sister after Misty had to return home to watch her sister's gym. Thing is, he's supposed to be nine years old this year. But here he looks about our age," Ash said. He then shook the young Treecko,. "Hey... Hey, wake up."

Skip tilted his head,. "Nine years old...? That'd be too young to... hmm..."

"Huh? Ash-?", Max asked as he sat up with a groan and rubbed his eyes. He then realized his own voice sounded different... and his body was different... and Ash's body was different, "What's going on? Huh!? Where am I? And why am I- Ash, what's going on!? Why do we look like the kinds of things you see on websites that May says I'm too young to look at?!"

Ash and Misty took turns explaining what they knew, which admittedly wasn't too much. Max got a bit anxious.

"I- I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll help you too if you'll let me," Max said.

With a roar, a large obscenely fat green-skinned humanoid creature charged out of the bush at the group.

The four Pokémon jumped aside. "Well... I guess we should be happy it's not another undead?", Skip said.

Max, not really sure how much he could contribute to the fight, scrambled up a tree to get a good look at the beast to see if there was any sort of weakness they could exploit.

The creature swung it's large stone club at them with a growl. Ash was pretty sure this stone club would be harder to catch than the bone one...

"Ash! The club is made of stone! Maybe you could break it, you are Fighting type, after all!", Mas shouted to the Machop.

"Ah! Right!", Ash said, readying to attempt to break the club, even if it took several swings.

The ogre surprised Ash with a punch rather then a club swing. "Ow... Okay... this one can think...", Ash grunted recoiling from the blow.

Then the beast swung it's club at Misty. Ash's eyes widened as he saw Misty in danger. With amazing speed, he managed to do a powerful dashing kick at the club, his foot glowing with a blue light, that Max recognized.

_Ash just used his Aura offensively. That's odd, I didn't think it'd transfer over to a Pokémon form if it couldn't normally learn aura..._ Max thought.

Cracks spiderwebbed through the club. While the club didn't completely shatter, the force was enough to deflect the club from Misty.

The Ogre punched at Ash again while swinging at Skip.

Ash dodged the blow as Skip blasted at the weakened club with Water Gun.

The cracks thickened soem under the assault, but the beast managed to 360 spin about and Slam Skip onto the ground.

"Guys! Try to disable the arm he's not using the club with!", Max shouted from a safe spot up in the tree.

"Ah! Got it", Ash said, as he started to focus energy while Misty fired Ember at the Ogre's arm. After Skip recovered, he also started to blast the monster with Water Gun. At times like these he kinda' wished he had bought a more powerful Water attack TM rather than Mud Sport... Ah well. No time for regrets now. Finally, Ash Karate Chopped the ogre's arm.

There was a loud crack as the ogre's obviously broken arm fell to its side, useless. The ogre screamed in rage and pain. The ogre glared at the Treecko hiding up in the tree.

"Uh-oh...", Max said, knowing the ogre was planning something. It wouldn't be clever, but whatever it was planning was _probably_ going to hurt.

The ogre tossed his club Max's way. With Agility he didn't know he had, the Treecko leapt from one tree to the other, barely managing to dodge the broken club, but almost taking a hit in the process. The club managed to hit some of the Sudowoodo who had fell fallen from a few floors up, causing them to scream out in pain.

"Couldn't you have done something other than sit up there!?", Skip yelled, irritably.

"I have THREE moves. Pound, Leer, and Absorb. What exactly did you expect me to do!?", Max shouted at the Mudkip.

Skip winced. The kid had a good point there. None of his moves could do much to any monster in this particular dungeon.

The ogre grabbed a tree with his good arm and with an angry groan, he tore it out of the ground and threw it at the group. Everyone's eyes bulged at that and they all scrambled in different directions to get away from the thrown tree. The monster instantly charged after them angrily. Ash grabbed the goliath with his two hands, straining to hold the creature back from his friends, while Max leaped from the top of the tree and flipped downwards, spiking the monster with a powerful Pound as he did so. Then, with a bellow a bellow, the beast let off Ash to turn to Max, exposing his back. Max started to back off a bit, worried that, while he may have saved the others, he himself was in trouble. The ogre moved slowly towards Max, growling. Suddenly, Ash hammered at the back of the beast with a powerful Karate Chop.

At first the Ogre didn't seem to notice until a sickening crack reverberated across the clearing. The ogre's body seemed to stop for a moment before collapsing.

Max breathed hard as he tried to calm down his heart, "That... was a bit more intense than I'm used to."

Ash felt sick to his stomach. He had just killed again... It was to save his friends, granted, but he still had killed someone... Before he could fully dwell on this, Skip spoke up, "...That guy couldn't have gotten too much farther Come on! Let's go get him!"

As the group continued ahead, they eventually found an alcove where Ash was somehow sure had the people they were looking for. The group silently snuck in and had to struggle not to gag. While still a part of the forest, it looked like some sort of torture chamber combined with a villain's hideout, with what looked like dried blood and bones strewn around here and there, and many evil sigils that hurt the eyes scrawled on the trees and rocks. The various Pokémon children were shivering in the corner, while the Hypno was doing who knows what. And there was no way they could sneak in without being seen - if he didn't already know they were there. It was hard to tell with the Hypno standing at the edge of a shockingly massive pile of bones heaped in the center of a complex circle painted in blood on the ground

{You shouldn't have followed me...} a deep voice echoed in their heads.

Ash took a step forward, "And what? Let you get away with whatever sick little game you had planned?"

{And what are you going to do?} the voice echoed with an even tone, no emotion, no conscience. {The four of you combined don't equal half my level.}

"There's more to winning than calculating levels!" Misty said.

"And be that as it may, no self-respecting citizen of Hero's Keep would have stayed out of it, you-", Skip said, before he was cut off by the Hypno's voice.

{Then you four will perish,} the Hypno stated simply, as though it was a given.

Ash was the first to charge forward, lashing out with a Karate Chop that was, luckily for him, glowing with blue Aura. Max stayed back and used Absorb to sap energy from the tapir at the same time.

The Hypno didn't so much as blink as Ash's body was surrounded by the blue energy of Psychic and flung away like a ragdoll.

The Hypno lifted up several flasks and beakers, shattering them in his grip before firing the shards at Max at insane velocity.

The Wood Gecko Pokémon yelped and barely managed to dodge the psychically thrown glass shards, as Misty fired Ember and Skip fired a Water Gun at the crazed tapir. Misty's Embers and Skip's Water Gun stopped in mid air the Embers headed in Max's direction while the Water Gun headed for Misty.

As the two dodged, Ash had managed to get behind the Hypno and smashed him with some of the bones strewn about. The Hypno growled at being taken off guard by such a move. In a flash of white light, the bone vanished from Ash's grip and appeared in the Hypno's, the larger Pokémon swinging at Ash harder. However, he had only hit Ash's head, so he was fine. However, Ash tried to smash the Hypno's face in retaliation. Ash's punch was stopped by a wall of energy from Protect. The Hypno then released a Psybeam point blank, which sent the Machop flying to the other side of the room and into a tree. He didn't get back up.

"Ash!", Misty cried out, getting angry before unleashing a powered -up Ember and then running at the Hypno, preparing to peck his head in, while Max continued to drain the Hypnosis Pokémon's vitality. The Hypno once again sent the Ember at Max, his eye's flashing several times before he released Thunder Wave at Misty. Misty fell to the floor, finding herself unable to move.

Max dodged aside of the Embers, but quickly threw a rock he had picked up in the forest at the Hypno as Skip ran at the figurative monster with his rusted hatchet.

The rock was repelled at Skip as Max was smacked from behind by Future Sight, and then from the front, and the side, and above him, the assault seemed to carry on for a good minute.

However, Skip knew to expect the pebble, as it was part of his and Max's plan, so he dodged it as he leaped at the Hypno and tried to strike him with the hatchet. Granted, this did about as much damage as one can expect, but hey, he hit him.

Using Thief again, the Hypno took the Hatchet and tossed it far away in anger. He telekentically picked Skip was picked up off the ground and assaulted him with Dazzling Gleam followed by Focus Blast and a Power-up Punch to the chest.

Suddenly, the hatchet came flying through the air and clocked the Hypno in the head with extreme force. Skip fell to the ground as the Hypno staggered in surprise. Taking the hatchet in hand, he growled in pain as the hatchet came apart molecule by molecule in his grip. He turned in the direction it had come from.

What he saw surprised him. It was the Machop from before, battered and bruised, but back up on his feet with determination in his eyes, and his mind. In fact, he could almost swear he was glowing. With a snarl and a sweep of his hands, multiple Shadow Balls came into being, flying at Ash with insane speed.

Amazingly, Ash managed to dodge them for quite a while, but the last few managed to blast him pretty well, as the strange glow flickering away from him.

The Hypno kept up, adding Focus Bblasts too the mix, flinging several Thunder Waves and Dazzling Gleams as well for good measure. {Why? Why are you not dead?}

"I... I won't... I won't fail anyone...", Ash managed to say as he staggered towards the Hypno, but he was still ready to fall, the Hypno could see that much. The Hypno began charging up a Zen Headbutt to finish the boy off..

Suddenly, a purple energy blade soared through the air and struck the Hypno. The Hypno didn't have time to question this as the blade cleaved him in two right there. His eyes widened as his legs stood where they were, while his chest hit the ground.

"Huh... Really?", a voice asked, "I didn't think a criminal like Morpheus would go down from only a single Night Slash."

"That's not fair, Kayin! You got to have all the fun here!", another voice said.

A large and muscular Chesnaught morph wearing biker clothes smiled as he walked onto the scene, putting away a large sword. He smiled as he came upon a small Lileo, whom he crouched down and talked to in a kind voice. "Prince Kimba, are you hurt?"

"Sir Kayin! You've got to help them! They came all this way to save us, and...", The little lion started crying.

"Of course, Little Prince," the Chesnaught nodded before calling out. "Erik, get some supplies over here. We've got four rookies who need some help."

A heavyset Feraligtr came into the room carrying a rescue pack. Seeing that none of them were in the mood for food, which got him grumbling, the Feraligtr took out a Paralyz Heal and sprayed Misty before grabbing a few Hyper Potions for the other three.

"Come on, we've got to get these people to the Pokémon Center. Even with those pick me ups, they'll still have some recovering to do," Erik said as he fidgeted with something that soon caused everyone to vanish from the forest.

The group reappeared inside the gates of a large town. The newcomers stared in awe. The gates, just behind them, towered at least five stories over their heads and were set into an even bigger wall stretching out on either side of them, enclosing a town with buildings made of wood and white stone, with tiled roofs. Paved roads made of stones glittering with jeweled dust covered the ground, the stones set in such a way that the colored dust made them look as if they were telling a pictorial story, heroic Pokémon clashing against great evils. Trees laden with fruits and flowers abounded, growing in small patches of grass set in the middle of the road as well as vast parks with babbling brooks and fountains and rather impressive-looking playgrounds. Colossal statues of valiant armored Pokémon wielding mighty weapons constructed out of stone, metal, and crystal towered over the buildings, light glinting off their majestic forms. But taller still was a castle that looked like it was taken straight from a fairy-tale in the center of it all, towers and crenellations rising into the sky, white and blue and pink and red and gold colors abounding in pennants and flags and banners dancing in the wind from the many buttresses and turrets and gargoyles. More heroic statues were carved into the sides of the castle, looking as if they were supporting the great structure; valiant Pyroars in armor, bearing sword and shield.

"Holy crap," Ash said, stunned.

"...Is this your first time here in town?", Kayin asked.

"Um... yeah, you could say that," Misty said.

"Then let me be the one to welcome you to Hero's Keep," The Chesnaught said.\

"Pretty rad, isn't it?" Skip said.

"That's one way of putting it," Max said, dazed.

Ash, Misty and Max looked around at the walled-in fantasy city in wonder as Kayin led them and the rescued children through the streets. Pokémon children were at play happily here where everyone seemed to greet one another happily, bowing as Kayin passed by and whispering and pointing in wonder in their wake. The large buildings and houses were here and fairly pristine and well-cared for. What seemed a bit left out of place was a building that they were heading to, a large building looking which looked much like Pokémon Centers in their world.

Ash took a look at his other savior, who he had not gotten a good look at before. The rather large Feraligatr had an imposing figure, that became less so as one looked over at his midsection that rounded out quite a bit past his knees. He wore a simple outfit that consisted of two shorts with armor plates attached to them, along with a single pauldron on his right shoulder. His body resembled that of an out of shape football player, yet he held himself well. His eyes were blazing from the experience of countless battles.

The other children were ushered into the Center to be checked up, their families called to let them know they'd been returned safely, but Kimba had decided to stay behind with the group. "They came to help me, the least I can do is make sure they all get well, right?"

Kayin laughed a bit at that, "You have a big heart, your highness."

A large but lovely Chancey morph in a nurse's outfit had took Ash, Max and Skip into the back when they had checked in. Ash's group was rather surprised that her name was, indeed, Nurse Joy much like it was where they had lived.

"So... humans, huh?", Kayin said as he listened to Misty tell their story as the boys were getting fixed up,. "I'm honestly not too surprised. It's become distressingly common lately, which has been a cause for alarm for the Empire."

"Yeah, usually humans only arrived in our world when something bad was coming. With the amount of humans appearing in recent months, the Emperor and the other rulers have decided to keep it on the down low, so as to not get too many people worried that the End of the World was coming...", Erik added.

"Sir Kayin, do you think it could be the end of the world?", Prince Kimba asked, somewhat scared.

"...No. I don't," the Knight said truthfully. "I think something else might be going on, and it's possible that Ash, Misty and Max were sent here to help fix it. After all, no other human-turned Pokémon would have been able to stand up to someone like Morpheus for so long."

"...We only barely managed," Misty said quietly.

"But managed you did. And you bought Erik and I the time we needed to arrive," Kayin said.

"Excuse me, Sir Kayin?" a Pidgey in a messenger uniform approached respectfully...

"Yes, what is it?", the Knight asked of the messenger.

"His Majesty wished me to deliver the bounty on Morpheus's head to you immediately." The Pidgey produced a reasonably large sack of gold coins, "As always, he send his eternal gratitude."

"Ah, yes," Kayin said, accepting the sack. "Thank you. Young Prince, would you mind accompanying the messenger back to the castle? I must talk to these four in private now. That is, if you wouldn't mind, Mr...?"

The messenger's eyes widened in shock, obviously not used to the people he delivered messages to caring to ask his name. "Fletch, sir. Maxwell Fletch."

Kayin nodded,. "Mr. Fletch,". he said, nodding, "you wouldn't mind, would you?"

"Not at all, sir. It would be my honor," Fletch said fraciously.

The young prince smiled as he took the messanger's claw and followed him out of the Pokémon Center.

"I guess I should start splitting the money now. So, Erik... I ask you again, are you SURE you don't want any?", Kayin asked his longtime friend.

The Feraligtr grinned and waved him off,. "Naw. I think I know what you're planning on doing, and I'd hate to cut into that. I'm fine with the berries, gummies, apples and seeds we've picked up."

Kayin smirked, "By the way, thanks for doing this one without me having to buy you the usual meal beforehand."

"No problem. Scum like Morpheus...", Erik breathed out his nose hard,. "Well... you remember, I was hatched at the Daycare Center. So what he was doing hit close to home."

Misty tilted her head in puzzlement, "What are you...?"

Abruptly, the boys came out of the back room, "Hey!" Ash shouted.

"Ash! You're looking well," Kayin said to the Machop,"You too Max. And you as well, Skipper."

"...Kayin, please...", Skip said with a sigh, "It's Skip, please."

Kayin nodded, "Alright, Skip. Sit down. I've got to talk to you all."

Skip gulped. He hoped he wasn't going to get a lecture for trying to perform a rescue without a license... "Are... are you mad, Kayin? It- it wasn't their fault at all, I should be held responsible for going in there and trying to perform a rescue..."

"No, Skip, it was my idea," Ash said, not sure why Skip was getting defensive, but realizing that whatever it was, Skip would probably get into trouble for it.

"Ash, you don't understand, around here..." Skip protested.

"Don't worry. I'm not about to lecture you," Kayin said.

"Huh?", both boys said.

"You four proved that, by all rights, you _should _be a Rescue Team. Morpheus tried to hide in a low- ranked dungeon where he thought that nobody would know where he was. By all rights, it's likely you would have aced that dungeon, or at least gotten near the bottom before having to bail," Kayin explained. "Instead, because of the situation Misty filled me in on, I'm going to give you all a share of the reward money."

"Money?", Max asked.

"Yes. Morpheus was a high ranked criminal with a large bounty on his head for... various crimes I don't feel at liberty to mention, though I'm sure you figured some of them out by looking at his choice of victims and his lair,." Kayin said.

"Three of you are new here to Hero's Keep, and not just the City, but our world as well. Buy yourselves a place to stay, some equipment, clothes, armor, maybe some weapons or other necessities." He explained, "Furthermore, I feel that you may be on this world for a reason. The best way to figure out the reason is to become a Rescue Team, for it will probably lead you to someone who knows the reasons. Also, check in with The Seer. You may get hinted in the proper direction."

Skip's head was spinning. Was Sir Kayin, the best of King Raoh's knights, actually _encouraging_ Ash and his friends to team up with him and become a Rescue Team? Would he _finally_ be able to achieve manhood in his family? This had to be a dream! It was too good to be true. He pinched himself. It stung.

Finishing up, Kayin handed over five smaller sacks to the group. "Each of you take one. The last one is for Ash, Misty and Max to pool together to buy a place to live. While I'm sure you probably want separate houses, it's best to start out with just a place to live at the moment. I want you four to get stronger and rise through the ranks to be the greatest of the Rescue Teams," the Chesnaught said.

"Who knows," Erik said with a grin, "Maybe if you do well enough, Kayin and I will even join your team."

"I'll send my recommendation to Scotty up at the Rescue Team Lead Offices, that should be able to get you accelerated past the physicals," Kayin said. "By the way, don't worry about Scotty's attitude. That's just the way he is."

With that, the Knight and his Mercenary friend stood up, "Anyway, I've got to give my report to the King now. I may also have to make sure those children aren't mentally scarred by anything they saw or heard," the Chesnaught said with a sigh,. "I hope to see you again soon."

The two veteran warriors left. After a moment of silence, Skip excitedly spoke up, "Did you hear that!? Come on! Let's go sign up and take the Rescue Team exam! This is so great!"

"Um... Skip? You're going to have to explain more about this whole Rescue Team thing to us," Max said, somewhat confused.

"And a lot of other stuff we're still confused on," Misty pointed out.

"Oh! Okay, that'll be fine," Skip said, looking embarrassed at his outburst.

"Umm... also... Can we do it over something to eat? I'm hungry," Ash said. Skip facefaulted while Misty and Max laughed.

As Skip decided to take them to see his family, who were no doubt having dinner now, Ash thought, _Pikachu... I know you're out there somewhere, buddy. I swear we'll find you_., Ash thought.

End of Chapter


End file.
